So You’re Saying There’s a Chance?

NC State’s fans, its players, coaches and administration must all have awoken this morning with the same feeling: what might have been. That the Wolfpack is a good enough team to play with most anyone in the upcoming NCAA Tournament is beyond question — the victory over Syracuse on Friday night settled that without any doubt, if the close calls against UNC, Syracuse, Missouri and others didn’t. But, in the end, it may be those close calls that doom NC State to the also-ran tournament, the NIT.

Then again, there might be a slight chance that the Wolfpack gets happy news this evening when the Selection Committee announces its decisions. Slight, mind you, but to quote Lloyd Christmas, “so you’re telling me there’s a chance?”

Others are not so sure:

ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi: Next 4 out

CBSSports.com Jerry Palm: Bubble – Probably Out: “The Wolfpack picked up its best win of the year by far when they beat Syracuse. That’s not really enough yet, but they couldn’t beat Duke. They have to be considered a long shot.”

SB Nation: Next 4 Out “In the ACC Tournament semifinals, N.C. State’s late resurgence ended with a 75-67 loss to Duke. The Wolfpack are now likely headed for a high seed in the NIT. “

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but that’s just how close the Pack is to playing in the only tournament that matters. Sure, you can say the NIT will be good for the team, or whatever else you want to use to make yourself feel better about it, but the truth is that the only tournament anyone not in the NIT pays attention to is the NCAA Tournament. And that’s where State’s coaches and players want to play. Sure, they might say good things about the NIT, but they know deep down they’re only putting lipstick on the pig. They want the NCAA and nothing else.

Where NC State goes next won’t be known for several hours, and honestly, it doesn’t look good, but you never know at this point. There is a chance, a slight one, and that’s all we have. Let’s hope it’s a good one.

Trying to look at this as a no-lose; either way, the team gets more experience playing together, and maybe Buckets will think about coming back to take care of unfinished business. Now, you guys have fixed it so that I will watch the NCAA selection show with a faster heartrate-good stuff.

“I said to [N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried] at the end of the game, ‘I hope you guys get in. I don’t understand it.’ They won at Tennessee. They probably should have beaten Syracuse twice,” Krzyzewski said. “I think they’ve played a really good schedule, and they’ve got one of the best players in the country

Alpha,
Your entry header didn’t show up in the Forums, so I edited your post and added it.
But the link to your blog entry is not showing up for some reason even after I edited it.
It’s time for you to dive under the hood and see what’s broke.

I just watched K’s post game comments on us and he made a good case. As long as SMU doesn’t get in ahead of us and we don’t have to listen to the Larry Brown crap I won’t be too upset. We had a stronger case two years ago for sure.

Dance card has us at the 50 spot right now…in the past the cut line has been #51. I don’t think there have been any upsets. They are talking about state right now on ESPN. All 4 of the guys said nc state should go after looking at resumes of the other bubble teams.

Not a big fan of bpi but state is 5-8 vs. Top 50 bpi teams…that is pretty impressive.

Last year’s team had the talent, but no heart or chemistry. This year’s team has plenty of all three to make a run in the tournament, but likely won’t get the chance. That’s what make this year particularly frustrating.

Nonetheless I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen from Cat, Beejay, Kyle, and Nard. While I hate the fact they will play in the NIT, it can only be good from a development perspective. The freshmen have now played into Saturday in the ACCT, they played road games at Pitt, Syracuse, Carolina, and Duke. They will come back next year experienced and confident.

No way TJ returns, and there is no way the addition of Lacey makes up for the loss. However, it will be a balanced team next year from a scoring perspective. All have had their moments this year, and are more than capable of picking up the slack.

Cat is an unbelievable defender, and will only be better next year. I hope Beejay gets in better shape in the offseason. We will need big minutes from him at the 5. I will not be surprised to see Gott add one more big in this year’s recruiting class, either from Europe or Juco. It is my understanding he is actively working on this.

Anyway, however it turns out this afternoon, I have truly enjoyed watching the team play and the young guys develop.

Remarkable that a chance remains, must be the slimmest of margins. From a biased perspective I think we are a good enough team to be given a bid. But I think it would be as much ‘given’ as ‘earned’ this particular season. We are truly on the edge.

Do we really have that good of a chance? I agree we can play with anybody in the country! I also agree we can loose to any local High School team by 30 at times. This is what makes it difficult for us.

Either way I’m optimistic and positive. We are playing good basketball at the moment.

I agree we can play with anybody in the country! I also agree we can loose to any local High School team by 30 at times.

This is the case for any of the bubble teams. I mean there is just not much that separates them when you get down this far down the line. We have been playing very well, and we have shown we can compete, and beat, nearly anyone. And we have one of the best players in the country on our side. But at the end of the day the committee will be comparing resumes of the bubble teams. For every “eye test” argument that is being made in that room somebody (and rightly so) is going to point to some of the bad losses, the poor record against the top teams, etc. It is what it is. You just hope that the argument for us is made and hopefully accepted in the end. It is not an easy job to split these hairs. Had we just won one more, or probably one less WTF loss, and we’re easily on the right side of bubble land.

The NIT will be fine by me. I only missed 1 home game this year and I welcome the chance to see these guys play 2, or hopefully 3, more times in Raleigh. Plus, playing in Reynolds will be nice trip down memory lane.

I’ve really enjoyed watching these guys play. So much more fun to watch than last year’s “team with issues”.